About Kevin Williams
and This Website

Like
many people, I
became a fan of near-death
experiences (NDEs) after reading
Raymond Moody's ground-breaking
book
Life After Life. For many
years afterwards, I read every
book on NDEs I could get my
hands on. By 1996, I earned by
degree in Computer Science and
learned web development. The
Internet was practically brand
new at the time and there were
only a handful of websites on
the subject of NDEs. The
synchronicity of learning web
development at a time when the
Internet was new, created within
me a tremendous epiphany as my
mission from God became crystal
clear. I was to create a portal
on the Internet totally devoted
to NDE revelations:
www.near-death.com. I happened
to be at just the right time and
just the right place to create
such a site. Public interest in
NDEs at that time was also
beginning to grow. This
ultimately led this website
becoming the number one Google
ranked website on NDEs. In the
development of my website I have
included content from many
profound NDE books by the best
authors on the subject. So much
so, I am inclined to say with a
celebrated French writer:

"I have
culled a bouquet of varied
flowers from men's gardens,
and nothing is my own but
the string that binds them."

Nevertheless, much of the
content is my own and I am also
the author of the book, "Nothing
Better Than Death: Insights from
62 Profound Near-Death Experiences."
My website includes my personal
testimony of how NDEs
transformed me from being a
Christian fundamentalist to a
Universalist believing in
universal salvation. NDE
research opened my heart and
mind to spiritual truth far
beyond my understanding of the
Bible. NDE testimonies reveal a
person's religious beliefs, or
lack of them, matters very
little to God and the afterlife.
Heavenly bliss is all about
love: "deeds" not "creeds." What
matters most to God and the
afterlife is how we treat other
people. Complete unconditional
love for everyone is our goal
and is the highest "heaven"
found within us. The Bible is in
agreement with this: "God is
love" (1
John 4:7-8); the
Kingdom of God is within you (Luke
17:20-21); and love is the
way to attain eternal life (Luke
10:25-28).

1. Why There is Nothing
Better Than Being Dead

NDE testimony offers answers
to the big questions: Who
are we? Why are we here?
Where did we come from?
Where are we going? What
does it all mean? NDEs also
provide circumstantial and
scientific evidence supporting
the
Afterlife Hypothesis
for which scientific reductionism
cannot adequately explain.
The evidence suggests NDEs
are transcendental journeys
to another dimension of
reality profoundly changing
the lives of those who have
them. One particular near-death
experiencer,
Dr. Dianne Morrissey,
eloquently stated this way:

"If
I lived a billion years more,
in my body or yours, there's
not a single experience on Earth
that could ever be as good as
being dead. Nothing."
-
Dr. Dianne Morrissey, near-death
experiencer

This wonderful quote
is the basis for the title of my book
Nothing Better Than Death.

The
main purpose of this website is to help
people understand the tremendous importance
of
unconditional love which appears
to be the most important revelation
given to so many NDE experiencers. Unconditional
love is also
the primary teaching of Christ as
well in many other religions. NDErs
frequently learn how loving others unconditionally
is not only the way to heaven after
death, but it is also the way to create
heaven within all human beings and the
way to create heaven on Earth. NDE testimonies
affirm how living in a physical body
creates an illusionary separation between
us and other people. People who have
had an NDE describe an out-of-body existence
after death where the one-ness of all
things cannot be denied. This state
of one-ness can be described as heavenly
if a life of one-ness with others had
been lived. NDEs reveal love to be the
bond which actually connects all things
together. NDEs also reveal love to be
what people worship as "God." For those
prefer the illusion (or delusion)
of separation over one-ness, life after
death can be a temporary, painful experience
of self-awareness. Such conditions are
temporary because of NDEs suggesting
how life after death is even more dynamic
than physical existence. Nevertheless,
after death, the only thing we can really
take with us is the love we have. Death
means stepping into the spiritual condition
we have been creating within us all
our life. Then we will find ourselves
at a particular level of one-ness
(love) which we prefer. In
the lower afterlife realms, darkness
reigns and the illusion of separation
is greater. In the highest afterlife
realms, there is a reality of a one-ness
which can best be described as a complete
realization of a total at-one-ment with
God and all things. Love is then the
critical factor in determining how close
we come to this realization after death.

My mission in
life is to promote these NDE truths
as a light shining in a world of darkness.
As a self-proclaimed NDE evangelist,
I seek to end the ignorance of and the
fear of death through the promotion
of these truths. I am convinced NDE
research is contributing greatly to
the spiritual evolution of humanity
and there is no greater endeavor than
planting seeds of love and light within
other human beings. Love is literally
what life, death, and God is all about.
It may sound strange but learning about
death means learning about love. Love
conquers and transcends death. In this
respect, death itself is the Grand illusion.

I am currently writing a new book
entitled Nothing Better Than Love,
which is a follow-up book to Nothing
Better Than Death. It is about
my personal testimony of
my family's after-death communications
with my mother which occurred after
her death in 2001. You can also read
about
my unusual paranormal experiences
which I have experienced throughout
my life.

2.
The Teachings of Jesus in the
Gospels as Spirituality 101

Reading
these beautiful testimonies of love
and heaven by near-death experiencers
created within me a deep love for near-death
experiences and made me a much more
spiritual person and less of a religious
person. Reading enough of these experiences
can make a person feel as if they are
relearning knowledge they had forgotten
long ago. My deep love for profound
near-death insights makes me committed
to bring these insights to the Internet.
I also believe my mission in life is
to bring these special insights from
others to the Internet for all too receive.
I strongly believe the insights from
near-death testimonies are universal
and speak to the heart of everyone.
I believe these truths are already known
to us all at the deepest core of our
being.

My spiritual journey
began like many people as a child of
the 60s believing the profound revelations
of John and Paul: "All you need is love."
But in 1977, after being challenged
by my Christian brother to read the
Gospel of John, I had a "born again"
experience - a paranormal event of instant
spiritual resurrection. I was transformed
into a completely different person and
have never been the same person since.
I participated in follow-up evangelism
with the Billy Graham crusade and the
Josh McDowell ministry on my college
campus. I led a number of people to
Christ and gave speeches on Bible prophecy
and early Christian history. I was a
religious zealot with a savior complex
compelling me to want to save everyone
whom I perceived were deceived, hell-bound,
and lost sinners who lacked the righteousness
I had. My savior complex also extended
to Christians whom I believed lacked
the fundamental intellectual formula
I possessed - a very arrogant position
isn't it? There is a fine line between
ignorance and arrogance and at this
point in my life this line was blurred.

When
I began to read about near-death experiences
my religious arrogance quickly disappeared.
The spirituality I found in near-death
experiences was on a scale far grander
than anything I could find in religious
dogma. My narrow religious mindset ultimately
began to crack as the light of
universal love,
universal salvation, and a
universal God entered in. This ultimately
led me to abandon my rigid systematic
intellectual religious theology.

3.
The Christian Paradox of "Salvation
by Faith Alone" versus "Salvation
NOT by Faith Alone"

The Christian paradox of faith versus
"good works" is most strikingly revealed
by these two contradictory passages
of scripture:

PAUL:"For
we account a man to be
JUSTIFIED BY FAITH,
without the works of
the law."
(Romans
3:28)JAMES:"You
see then that a man is
JUSTIFIED BY WORKS, and
not by
faith only."
(James
2:24)

Clearly
in the above verse,
James (the brother of Jesus)
taught the exact
opposite of what Paul was teaching. These two Bible verses
have been known by scholars throughout
history to be perhaps the greatest contradiction
in the Bible. This contradiction is
one of the major reasons why there are
so many different Christian denominations
and interpretations of Christian scriptures
in the world. To fully understand this
contradiction and paradox one must first
understand
the dispute between Paul and the Twelve
Apostles - specifically the dispute
between Paul and James, the leader
of the Jerusalem Church. Many Bible scholars believe
Paul "hijacked" the Christianity taught
by Jesus and the Twelve and that Paul
is the real founder of Christianity.
Paul met Jesus once from a near-death
experience that occurred on the Road to
Damascus. It transformed him from
being a persecutor of the Twelve and their followers
to becoming a supporter. Unfortunately,
Paul did not spend the time necessary
to sit at their feet and learn from
them the true teachings of Jesus.
Paul hardly
knew the Twelve and rarely visited them.
Whenever he did visit them, he would
clash with them on matters of
doctrine. This led to Paul becoming a
witness to the Gentiles and his
establishment of the Roman Church.
Paul was a self-appointed
apostle who taught the Gentiles that
the
law of God no longer applied and
that Judaism was no longer
relevant. Unfortunately, because of Paul's letters,
he is considered the main source for the Church's [1]
anti-Semitism,
[2]
homophobia, [3]
sexual intolerance,
[4]
religious intolerance, [5]
economic
discrimination, [6]
racism, [7]
discrimination
against women, and [8]
support for slavery.
But to be fair to Paul, I doubt he
ever wanted his letters to be
considered the very words of God to
be included into Holy Scripture. But despite Paul's
enormous influence in developing Christian theology,
it is clear that
Jesus never believed the law of God
to be irreverent and he never
repudiated his Judaism. Paul's
teachings ultimately led to
Christianity's
exclusion of the behavioral requirements
set forth in God's law which Jesus
emphasized as necessary for salvation.
Jesus emphasized good works over faith
throughout his parables. James' Epistle is
clearly a point-by-point counter-argument
against Paul's Epistle to the Romans.
Below is a chart which presents the
heated debate
between them.

Paul's Salvation of Faith Without Works
Versus
Jesus' Salvation by Good Works of Faith

PAUL

JAMES

Justified By
Faith Alone

Justified
NOT
By Faith
Alone

"For we
account a
man to be
justified by
faith,
without the
works
of the law"
(Romans
3:28).

"You see
then that a
man is
justified by
works,
and
not by faith
only"
(James
2:24).

Justified By
God's Grace
Alone

Justified
NOT
By God's
Grace Alone

"All are
justified
freely
by his grace
through the
redemption
that came by
Christ
Jesus" (Romans
3:24).

"Therefore,
the promise
comes by
faith,
so that it
may be
by grace
and may be
guaranteed
to all
Abraham’s
offspring --
not only to
those who
are of the
law but also
to those who
have the
faith of
Abraham" (Romans
4:16).

"Speak and
act as those
who are
going to be
judged by
the law
that gives
freedom,
because
judgment
without
mercy
will be
shown to
anyone who
has
not been
merciful.
Mercy
triumphs
over
judgment" (James
2:12-13).

Abraham's
Righteousness
By Faith
Alone

Abraham's
Righteousness
NOT
By Faith
Alone

"If, in
fact,
Abraham was
justified by
works,
he had
something to
boast
about -- but
not before
God" (Romans
4:2).

"It was
not through
the law
that Abraham
and his
offspring
received the
promise
that he
would be
heir of the
world, but
through the
righteousness
that comes
by faith"
(Romans
4:13).

"Was not our
father
Abraham
considered
righteous
for what he
did
when he
offered his
son Isaac on
the altar?
You see that
his
faith and
his actions
were
working
together
and his
faith was
made
complete
by what he
did"
(James
2:21-22).

Righteousness
By Faith
Alone

Righteousness
NOT
By Faith
Alone

"To the one
who
does not
work
but trusts
God who
justifies
the ungodly,
their
faith is
credited as
righteousness"
(Romans
4:5).

"God will
credit
righteousness
-- for us
who believe
in him
who raised
Jesus our
Lord from
the dead" (Romans
4:24).

"Faith
by itself,
if it is not
accompanied
by action,
is dead"
(James
2:17).

"As the body
without the
spirit is
dead, so
faith
without
deeds is
dead"
(James
2:26).

Righteousness
NOT
By Works
Alone

Righteousness
By Works
Alone

"Therefore
no one will
be declared
righteous
in God’s
sight by the
works of the
law"
(Romans
3:20).

"But now
apart from
the law
the
righteousness
of God has
been made
known..." (Romans
3:21).

"If you
really keep
the royal
law
found in
Scripture,
'Love your
neighbor as
yourself,'
you are
doing right.
But if you
show
favoritism,
you sin and
are
convicted by
the law as
lawbreakers"
(James
2:8-9).

"Was
not even
Rahab
the
prostitute
considered
righteous
for what she
did
when she
gave lodging
to the spies
and sent
them off in
a different
direction?"
(James
2:25).

Salvation By
Faith Alone

Salvation
NOT
By Faith
Alone

"If
you declare
with your
mouth,
'Jesus is
Lord,'
and believe
in your
heart that
God raised
him from the
dead,
you will be
saved"
(Romans
10:9).

"God
presented
Christ as a
sacrifice of
atonement,
through the
shedding of
his blood --
to be
received by
faith"
(Romans
3:25).

"If
those who
depend on
the law are
heirs, faith
means
nothing
and the
promise is
worthless,
because the
law brings
wrath" (Romans
4:14-15)

"What good
is it, my
brothers and
sisters, if
someone
claims to
have faith
but has
no deeds?
Can such
faith save
them?"
(James
2:14).

"You
believe
that there
is one God.
Good!
Even the
demons
believe
that -- and
shudder. You
foolish
person, do
you want
evidence
that
faith
without
deeds is
useless?"
(James
2:19-20).

4.
The Christian Paradox of Predestination
Versus Free Will

Before
I learned about NDEs, I believed in
the extreme fundamentalist view of God
predestinating a portion of humanity
for salvation (the elect) and leaving the rest for
damnation. This view of Christian
theology was championed by Paul and
it has significant Biblical support. This
view is historically known as Calvinism after
John Calvin (1509-1564 AD)
whose teachings were instrumental in
bringing about the Protestant Reformation
along with Martin Luther (1483-1546
AD). Calvinism and the Protestant
Reformation was actually a rediscovery
of the teachings of St. Augustine
(354-430 AD) who was the first
person to formalize Paul's theology. Paul's theology
is based upon scripture declaring
all humanity as being born spiritually dead
in sin and being unable
to come to God on their own strength to be saved.
Paul viewed salvation as entirely the work of God:

(1)

God the Father chose the
elect for salvation before
the world began; thereby
chosing to leave the rest of
humanity for damnation.

(2)

God the Son redeemed the
elect at the cross - and
only the elect - thereby
guaranteeing the elect's
salvation at that time. The
non-elect were never chosen
or meant to be redeemed by
Christ and are left dead in
their sins and lost forever.

(3)

God the Holy Spirit
draws the elect - and only the elect
- at the appointed time;
thereby graciously giving
the elect the gift of spiritual life and
making their salvation secure forever.

But the
alternative theology
of Christ redeeming all humanity at
the cross is even more of a
paradox. If Christ redeemed all
humanity at the cross, but some
become lost and go to hell, then
this means Christ's death
didn't actually save anyone at that
time. It means Christ's death made
salvation only a possibility
for all humanity and conditional upon
spiritually dead slaves to sin
having the freedom of will and ability to come to Christ
on their own strength. - a
contradiction of scripture.[1][2][3][4][5].So Paul's
theology limits the quantity
of Christ's redemptive power in that
it applies only to the elect and not
all of humanity. But the
alternative theology limits the quality
of Christ's redemptive power on the
cross in that
it didn't actually save anyone at that
time. Paul's theology gives all the
glory to God in the salvation of
humanity while the alternative
theology gives all the glory to
human beings having the free will
and ability to choose Christ.

Ironically,
an extreme form of hyper-Calvinism (combined
with a little
Christian mysticism) solves this
paradox and is the Christian belief
system I now hold myself: God the Father elected
all human beings for salvation;
God the Son redeemed all human beings
at the cross; God the Holy Spirit then calls
all humanity for salvation
according to God's timetable. You
might ask, "How is it possible for
everyone to be saved when countless
individuals die and are never held
accountable for their transgressions?"
In other words, "Where is divine
justice in such cases?" In the Old
Testament, part of God's divine law
is described as "an eye for an eye"
[1][2][3][4][5][6].
In the New Testament, Jesus taught
people the same principle
[1][2][3][4][5][6]
as did his apostles
[1][2][3][4][5].
But Jesus also taught people how to
fulfill God's law
[1][2][3][4]
through God's higher commandment to
love God and others. This age-old
principle of "an eye for an eye" is
also known as karma and is
commonly known in the West as the
law of "cause and effect" and "What
goes around comes around." Let there
be no doubt that the law of karma
taught by Jesus in the Bible is
identical to the religious concept
of the cycle of birth and rebirth.
It means if divine justice is not
met in one lifetime, then it must be
satisfied at some future time. In the Bible,
bodily rebirth is called
resurrection which, in the
times of the Old Testament, was
identical to the concept of
reincarnation
[1][2][3][4][5] and was even taught by Jesus
[1][2][3[4][5][6][7][8][9]. Reincarnation
was a doctrine
which was widely believed throughout
Israel
[1][2][3][4][5][6].

If a person
is not made spiritually alive during
their lifetime, then it will occur in
some future lifetime either through
bodily resurrection (reincarnation)
- or by some form of temporary purgatorial-like
state in the afterlife - or both. Another
source of NDE testimony helping me in
transition from a fundamentalist Christian
to a more mystical one is
the NDE revelations of Edgar Cayce
who ties NDE insights together with
the mystical Christianity taught by
Jesus.

Rational minded
Christians must choose a theological
system to believe in; or it may be best
to simply accept God as a child because
they are, after all, closer to the Source.
In the box below are the scriptural
references formulating Paul's theology.

Paul's Doctrine
of Election
and Predestination

The
following Bible verses describe
the doctrines of election
and predestination as the
Apostle Paul knew them:

Salvation depends upon God
and not man:
No one seeks God
[1] because no one has
the will to accept things
from God without the Spirit
of God
[2]. The human will
is not free, but is enslaved
to their fallen nature until
set free by Christ
[3]. Therefore, salvation
does not depend upon fallen
human beings
[4] but upon God's grace
through through the gift
of faith
[5].

God created the elect for
mercy and others for destruction:
God chose some people for
salvation before the world
was created
[6] to be objects of
his mercy
[7] and the rest of
humanity God created to
be objects for destruction
[8]. God's predestined
his elect to obtain salvation
while passing by the others
[9]
[10]
[11]. God has elect
angels and fallen angels
as well
[12]. Only God elect's
are called, justified, and
eventually glorified
[13]. When Paul preached
at Antioch everyone who
was appointed for eternal
life believed
[14]. God redeemed the
elect with his own blood
[15].

Christ died for the elect
only and not for the rest
of humanity:
Christ gave his life for
his predestined elect
[16]. Not only this,
God has predestined everything
to be conformed to his plan
[17]. God redeemed "all
men" and "the whole world"
and wanting "everyone" to
be saved in the sense that
God's chosen elect are not
limited to Jews, but to
everyone from every tribe,
language, race, and nation
[18]
[19]
[20]
[21].

Once the elected sinner
is saved by Christ's redeeming
power, they are forever
saved:
God's elect are called,
justified, and glorified
[22] proving they are
saved from God's wrath in
the end
[23]. So there is no
condemnation for those whom
God elected
[24] and nothing can
separate them from God
[25]
[26]. God's calling
and gift of faith are irrevocable
[27]. God resurrected
his elect when Christ was
resurrected
[28]. And what God began
will be carried on to completion
to the very end
[29]. Paul's theology
may have originated from
his conversion on the road
to Damascus. His NDE of
the risen Christ may have
shown him how everyone is
totally dependent upon God's
grace and sovereignty for
salvation; and it has nothing
to do with their cooperation
[30]. Paul's theology
of salvation is analogous
to a narrow bridge going
all the way across to heaven.
The alternative theology
is analogous to a very wide
bridge going only half-way
across. Another analogy
is to imagine Christ walking
through a cemetery, calling
and raising some corpses,
and leaving the rest in
their graves to perish.

The devastating problem
with Paul's theology of
salvation:
it flat out contradicts
everything Jesus taught
in the gospels about the
importance of behavioral
requirements (works) which
God expects everyone to
perform in order to attain
perfection and eternal life.
Here are some examples:
Jesus taught people how
loving God and others is
the way to eternal life
[31]. Love is God, so
without love, it is impossible
to attain eternal life
[32]
[33]
[34]. The following
parables of Jesus confirm
the existence of behavioral
requirements leading to
salvation: the parable of
the Unforgiving Servant
[35]; the parable of
the Two Debtors
[36]; the parable of
the Wise and the Foolish
Builders
[37]; and the parable
of the Unjust Steward
[38].

If you do an in
depth study of Early Christian history
you will soon realize how Christian
doctrines have changed radically from
the time of Jesus. Paul's tremendous
influence in shaping Orthodox Christianity
and Eastern Christianity denigrated
original Judeo-Christianity into a vulgar
system where pledging allegiance to
Jesus and becoming a member of a personality
cult of Jesus worship is the way to
salvation. While Paul generally accepted
the teachings of the Twelve coming directly
from Christ, he threw away (or completely
ignored) the essential Jewish teachings
of Christ which is based on performing
good works according to God's law. The
doctrines of the Church of Rome which
Paul established ultimately won the
political struggle over the Jerusalem
Church and Christianity has never been
the same since.

5.
How Near-Death Experiences Solves
These Christian Paradoxes

As
I read more about the profound insights
in NDE testimonies, the more they filled
the gaps I had in understanding Christian
doctrines. I began to see how concepts
such as universal salvation which are
found in near-death experiences are
also found in the Early Christian teachings
of Jesus. I eventually had to deal with
the paradoxes and contradictions I found
in the Christian doctrines I loved and
believed deeply for so many years. This
transformational process caused much
mental anguish (on top of my bipolar
disorder) but led me on a quest to understand
Christianity in light of the insights
I was learning from NDEs. By studying
a combination of NDE testimony, the
lost teachings of Jesus, Jewish
history around the time of Christ, Judeo-Christian
teachings,
lost Church doctrines and an importantdoctrine of Christian teachings
declared a heresy by the Church, I found
compatibility between them all. I discovered
how Church bishops decided not to include
many of the teachings of Jesus circulating
among various Christian groups because
they were thought to be Gnostic. For
example, some bishops held the Gospel
of John and the
Book of Revelation to be suspect
and were almost not included in the
development of New Testament canon.
The
Gospel of Thomas (considered to
be the oldest gospel) was not included
in canon perhaps because it describes
Jesus teaching his closest disciples
how to obtain salvation through a mystical
divine-human unity and the process of
reincarnation. The nature of Jesus
was the subject of much debate by the
Early Church. Scriptures dealing with
experiences in the afterlife, such as
the
Book of Enoch, were not included
in the development of canon even though
Jesus quoted from them many times in
the New Testament. The Pharisees, the
Essenes, the Christian Gnostics, and
many early Christians were believers
in
pre-existence and
bodily resurrection (reincarnation)
and believed in a spiritual form of
resurrection taught by Jesus to his
disciples (becoming reborn of the Spirit).
The general public were not given these
closely guarded teachings (including
the interpretations of his parables)
which is evident in Jesus' conversation
with Nicodemus.

6.
The "Resurrection of the Spirit"
Versus the "Resurrection of
Corpses"

It
is apparent how Jesus meant for the
mystery of the resurrection of the dead
to be hidden until the last days before
he returns. The 1945 and 1947 discoveries
of the Dead Sea Scrolls and
the early Christian writings in Egypt
occurred shortly before Israel became
a nation again in 1948. All the unfulfilled
Bible prophecies concerning a conquering
Messiah arriving to rule the throne
of David can now be fulfilled. NDE visions
of the future support the notion of
humanity currently at a crossroads when
major earth changes are approaching;
but it will not be the end of the
world as many believe - it will
simply be the end of the old order.

The Christianity taught by Jesus
and the Twelve centered upon two types
of resurrection: the resurrection of
the spirit (spiritual rebirth) and the
resurrection of the body (bodily rebirth,
reincarnation). But when Paul abandoned
his Judaism and Pharisee upbringing,
he effectively did not include (or was
ignorant of) these important teachings
of the Pharisees and Jesus. Paul accepted
a version of the resurrection of the
dead which is identical to
the Persian concept of resurrection
that existed before the time of Christ.
It describes how people sleep in their
graves until the End Time when corpses
are resurrected for final judgment.
This concept of resurrection won the
political battle over the mystical interpretations
of resurrection secretly taught by Jesus.
The vulgarized version was more palatable
for the ignorant general public and
this may be why it was defeated. Rome
conquered Jerusalem in 70 AD. Many around
Jerusalem fled to Egypt where Jewish-Christianity
and Gnostic Christianity could continue
to practice the mystical teachings of
Jesus concerning attaining at-one-ment
with God.

In conclusion, by studying
the historical records and allowing
NDE concepts to guide me, I reached
the same conclusion many others have:
Christianity as taught by Jesus resembles
Tibetan Buddhism more than it
does fundamentalist Christianity.
Tibetan Buddhism and the early
Christian writings emphasize liberatingoneself
from the cycle of reincarnation through
a spiritual rebirth of the heart, mind,
and spirit. Reincarnation, although
not a desirable option, is actually
a gift from God allowing humans to have
as many opportunities as necessary to
become permanent residents of the highest
heaven. "Hell" means having to reincarnate
and be subjected to death repeatedly
until eternal life in heaven is attained.
What is fascinating is how these hidden
mysteries of Jesus were not limited
to Jesus or to Judeo-Christianity. These
mystical teachings of attaining a human-divine
unity can be found in Buddhism (Tibetan),
Islam (Sufi),
Judaism (Kabbalah),
Hinduism (too
many to list), and Christianity
(Gnosticism).
All teach the same goal: liberating
the soul from the flesh through the
awakening of the spirit within.

7.
The Gospel of Love According
to Jesus and the Near-Death
Experience

That's all there is to it!
This is the entire gospel
of Jesus and the message
people learn from countless
NDE testimonies! It means
allowing the unconditional
love from the kingdom of
heaven within yourself and
then allowing it to manifest
into the world. It is about
living forever with unconditional
love for everyone and everything
now. The gospel of Jesus
is all about unconditional
love: For God so loved
the world he gave us his
beloved son (John
3:16) that "whoever
believes in him" will never
die. What does "whoever
believes” in him mean? Jesus
taught this lesson in context
with
John 3:19-21 where Jesus
refers to those who come
into the light and live
by the truth of this light
- as opposed to those who
fear entering into the light
because of their fear of
judgment. The gospel of
Jesus is about finding and
entering into the light
of God's unconditional love
now and not waiting until
death to go to heaven. Love
is the only thing we take
with us at death. This is
the same message found in
NDE testimonies.

So believing and
knowing about unconditional love is
not enough. It must be lived, practiced,
experienced, embodied, until "I AM".
Although this is a very high standard
for us to follow, it is the reason we
are here in this "World-School of Hard
Knocks." We are growing our way to heaven
by means of unconditional love (i.e.,
God) right here on Earth. We are
bringing this unconditional love of
heaven into this world right now. Perhaps
a day will soon come when humans have
evolved enough like Jesus to walk upon
water, raise the dead and heal the sick.
Fortunately, I believe we are getting
closer and closer to this goal.

8.
The Scientific, Philosophical,
and Religious Foundation for
the Gospel of Love

The
following is my understanding of
reality based upon the higher
knowledge found in NDEs and their
application toward the understanding
of science, philosophy and religion.

How we began:
In the beginning, there was nothing
but one universal, collective consciousness,
which people refer to as "Spirit" or
"God." Within this one Collective Consciousness
are infinite points of consciousness.
All things in the past and present,
and all things which will ever be in
the future, exists as eternal spirit
in one of these infinite points of consciousness
within the Collective Consciousness.
Our spirit is a
fractal of God. This means our spirit
is both a part of the Whole and the
Whole itself. Like a drop of water from
the ocean, we are part of the ocean.
Like a drop of water from the ocean,
the very essence of the ocean is contained
within us.

The origin
of species and dawn of humanity:
Then, at some moment outside of time,
came the desire for individuality and
self-expression. This led to the creation
of the cosmos and souls. The vehicle
for our spirit is our soul. In the same
way, the vehicle for our soul is our
physical body. Our spirit is the eternal
part of God. Our soul is a temporary
vehicle for our spirit to experience
individuality of existence between the
physical realm and the spirit realm.
The human body evolved from ape-men
millions of years ago and it will continues
to evolve until it is able do those
things which fully evolved people from
our past, such as Jesus and Buddha,
have achieved. At some point millions
of years ago, souls descended upon these
ape-men and began influencing them to
come down out of the trees and eventually
form societies. Then souls began inhabiting
the bodies of these ape-men. Thus, the
dawn of humanity arose on this planet.

Humans were
created in the image of God:
Humans are three-dimensional beings:
body, soul, spirit. The divine nature
is as a manifestation of life, light,
and love. The Bible mentions a trinity
of personalities: Father, Son, and Holy
Spirit. The Bible also mentions a trinity
of human-divine unity: (Body
of Christ,
Mind of Christ, and
Spirit of Christ.) Science and metaphysics
describe human awareness in terms of
consciousness (mind), subconsciousness
(soul), and the collective unconsciousness
or superconsciousness (spirit).

What happens
when we die:
After death, our soul body leaves our
physical body. The physical body decays
and is lost forever. As a soul, we can
then experience in various soul realms
as we did every night on Earth in our
dreams. While in the soul realms, our
soul body is the vehicle for our spirit.
Our soul mind functions as our conscious
awareness and our spirit mind plays
the role of the subconscious mind. Ultimately,
we will want to leave the soul realms
and enter into the higher spirit realms.
When this choice is made and the soul
actually enters into the light, the
soul merges fully with the light and
soul body is shed much like the physical
body was shed at death. The memories
of the soul remain forever in the mind
and the individual is now once again
a pure spirit in the spirit realms.
As a pure spirit, we exist once again
in pure thought form in the mind of
the one enormous and fantastic dream
called "God."

Humanity
is evolving in mind, body, and soul:
As human beings, we have been evolving
on a biological level for millions of
years. Between Earth lives, we spend
"eternities" in spirit form in various
spirit realms. We also return to these
spirit realms every night during our
dreams. The reason we choose to come
to Earth for another relatively brief
human experience is because we are also
evolving at the soul level. Through
the cycle of birth, death, life in the
spirit realms, and rebirth into flesh,
we are learning valuable lessons which
only Earth lives can give. The goal
for every human being is to evolve into
perfection in a manner similar to Jesus,
Buddha, and other great spiritual leaders.
Ultimately, the day will come when the
world will be filled with perfected
human beings. It will be a time when
humans will be able to live as long
as they want and perform feats which
today we would call "miraculous" - like
walking on water. In such a state of
perfected evolution, humans will have
become "liberated" from this evolutionary
cycle and will no longer be subjected
to reincarnation. As taught in the mystical
forms of the great world religions,
liberation is attained by "becoming
one" with all things and all people
(i.e., "God") through the practice
of unconditional love. This spiritual
state of one-ness occurs when a person
"awakens" their higher spirit-self and
brings it into their conscious awareness.
In Christianity, this liberation is
referred to as
spiritual resurrection or
spiritual rebirth or being born
again. In Buddhism, the state of
liberation is known as Nirvana.
In Hinduism, it is known as Moksha.
In Gnosticism, this liberation occurs
through attaining gnosis. All
these concepts describe the same thing.
It is the liberation of the spirit from
the flesh. It is also
the symbolism behind the crucifixion
of Jesus.

Practicing
love for one another is the way to heaven
on Earth and heaven within: Jesus
taught people how
the way to attain liberation is through
the practice of unconditional love.
Love brings about a one-ness between
people and is necessary to attaining
the higher dimensions of consciousness.
Practicing unconditional love leads
to the manifestation of the spirit within
us and in our lives and brings our spirit
into conscious awareness. It is an awakening
of unconditional love within us and
is the manifestation of our holy spirit
within us. However, it is not enough
to merely believe in love. Nor is it
enough to merely know about love. To
be spiritual beings living in a physical
world, we must live love, manifest love,
and become the embodiment of love. We
do not get there by focusing only on
the love and sacrifice of Christ nor
through worshipping him.

The Christian
life involves taking up your own cross
and following in Jesus' footsteps by
practicing unconditional love:
We can practice unconditional love by
crucifying our self-centeredness
through self-sacrifice and self-denial
for the sake of serving others. "Crucifying
the flesh" also means to put to
death the desires of the lower self
- the animalistic desires - to allow
our higher self, our spirit, to come
through.

The "beast"
we are evolving away from:
This lower nature within human beings
is the unevolved animal nature within
humanity of which we have been slowly
shedding for millions of years through
evolution and reincarnation. The nature
of this unevolved beast within humanity
is manifested as self-gratification,
self-indulgence, self-centeredness,
selfishness, self-importance, self-righteousness,
self-delusion, self-condemnation, and
the constant clamoring for self - "ego"
(symbolically known as the "false
god," the "devil," and the unevolved
"beast.").

Discovering
a higher reality and the supremacy of
love:
It is the illusion of separation
(i.e., the false notion of our not being
part of one giant Whole), which
is the source of many problems humanity
has ever faced. This constant desire
for self apart from the Whole must be
overcome in order to become the spiritual
beings we really are. We are actually
spirit beings having a highly evolved
human experience. Everything on the
physical and soul level is slowly evolving
toward perfect unity with the Whole.
Here in the physical realm, we are "enrolled"
in a "World-School" for a class called
"Introduction to Eternal Life 101" to
learn how to live with and love the
people around us forever. NDE research
reveals an open secret about our lives
on Earth. Life is a test. It is a gigantic
examination for which we will be graded
on after death. There is no judgment
except self-judgment and we shouldn't
even do this. There is no condemnation
but self-condemnation and we should
not do this either. The life review
after death is for our educational benefit,
enlightenment, and soul evolution. The
life review is where we discover what
we have been filling the void within
us our entire life. The more we fill
our void with love for others, the more
we have evolved as soul. The love we
have found within our void is what draws
us into the light.

However, not everyone enters the light
immediately after death. There are many
reasons for this and they can be found
within the NDE testimonies on this website.
In general, it requires many human experiences
(i.e., lifetimes) until our
higher spiritual nature is brought into
our consciousness awareness. In the
end, no one is lost. There is no eternal
damnation. Nobody completely "flunks
out" of God's University of Higher Knowledge.
God's love is "tough love" as well as
unconditional not wanting anyone to
be lost but to attain at the physical
level what we are at the spirit level.

Life is about loving everyone and everything
unconditionally forever as individuals
and collectively as a Whole which is
God.

9.
The Gospel of Love Supports
Universal Salvation

Ultimately,
I reached a point in my NDE studies
where the hundreds of first-hand eyewitness
NDE testimonies of Jesus I read became
far more sensible and trustworthy to
me than the four testimonies of Matthew,
Mark, Luke, and John in the Bible. These
gospel testimonies are not first-hand
testimonies as NDE testimonies are and
there are contradictions in the gospel
narratives.

NDE research dramatically changed my
ideas of just about everything on a
massive scale. I learned how God is
immensely more loving and infinitely
more forgiving than I ever knew. I knew
God would never abandon anyone forever
in hell. The "God of wrath" I once thought
existed I now know to be a man-made
construct for which to project our fear
and own personal weaknesses on. Once
I understood how the greatest enemy
I will ever have to face and conquer
is: myself,
an interesting change occurred within
me. The Devil I used to blame my sins
on and whom I feared all the time evaporated.
I began to appreciate the vastness of
God's love for all people no matter
what their religious or cultural persuasion
may be. My narrow religious system cracked
and fell away as it became more and
more ridiculous to me. Worse still,
I discovered my former belief system
to be highly dishonoring to God in how
it portrays God as throwing the majority
of humanity in hell fire to roast and
be tortured forever. My former idea
of God resembled Charles Manson more
than it did of a God of infinite love
and I regretted ever having ever believed
it. I grew to resent the ignorance within
the Church and sympathized with those
still trapped by false doctrines. I
knew God cannot be limited to any book
and realized the universe itself is
a greater revelation of God than a zillion
Bibles. I realized we could have direct
experiences with God. We do not have
to rely solely upon 2000-year-old experiences
in the Bible. I learned how bible-idolatry
occurs when
a person elevates a book to be the infallible
words of God.

By studying NDEs, I found peace of mind
and freedom from rigid beliefs systems
and a far greater love for people and
Jesus than I would ever have found in
the Bible. I discovered truth was everywhere
including in other religions. I began
to view
Christian doctrines in the Light of
NDEs in a more spiritual way rather
than the inferior literal way. I learned
how NDE insights offered greater spiritual
lessons in love which can transform
the world into the paradise it is meant
to be.

Although I see a lot of nonsense in
every religion, I know the only critical
component of every religion is teaching
people to love others and God. I know
how many people, including myself, need
to begin with a narrow religion to direct
us within where true spirituality dwells.
From narrow religions, people can graduate
from "Spirituality 101" when they learn
the perfect "religion" is love for others.
Because I would be comfortable to consider
myself a Buddhist, just as I would be
comfortable to consider myself a Christian
or a Hindu or a Gnostic, it is difficult
when asked what religion I practiced.
I used to describe myself as a Christian.
But what brand of Christianity believes
in reincarnation, pre-existence, the
divine nature within humanity, universal
salvation, and the non-existence of
a Devil? Then I used to answer, "Well,
I am Christian, a Jew, a Hindu, a Muslim,
a Buddhist" but found out this answer
does not make a lot of sense to people.
Then I would say, "NDEs are my religion."
Nevertheless, once I discovered the
kind of love and spirituality found
in NDEs, I realized I was no longer
concerned about religious dogma anymore.
Just follow the simple principle established
by Jesus, John, and Paul when they said,
"All you need is love."

10.
My Desire to Promote NDE Testimonies
and the Spirituality Within
Them

My
love for NDEs and the spirituality I
found in them, combined with computer
science background, led me to create
this website and write a book entitled
Nothing Better Than Death.
This website is a wonderful labor of
love for me and the zealotry I once
reserved for religion is now direct
toward my passion for bringing the spirituality
of the NDE to the internet via my website.
It is not my purpose to promote any
single religion or even any religion
at all. However, there are aspects to
NDEs which have profound religious implications.
My greatest desire is to promote the
supremacy of unconditional love found
in NDEs because I believe it is the
key for humanity's next stage in human
evolution. I believe NDEs will soon
prove the survival of consciousness
after death without any doubt and this
will bring greater love and unity to
the world. Imagine a world where everyone
understands how, after death, everyone
is accountable for every thought, word,
and deed. NDE insights equate death
as a process of "stepping into" the
heaven or hell we have created within
ourselves during life. The afterlife
is a spectrum of existence where the
highest heaven is pure unconditional
love and the lowest hell is the absence
of love. At death, we awaken to the
spiritual environment we have been creating
within ourselves and actually inhabiting
all our lives. Therefore, death itself
is just a body problem. This is all
there is to it.

My prayer is for
this website - the NDE information on
it - will enlighten people and help
them on their spiritual journey towards
unconditional love. This is not some
"savior complex" of mine; rather this
is an important part of my mission.
The light of love as revealed in NDEs
is being poured upon the entire world
now due to the many people returning
from death and their sharing this light
with a world living in darkness and
starving for light. I believe this tremendous
influx of light coming in from NDEs
will ultimately deliver the world from
the current chaos we are and bring us
to a new level of understanding of death
and life. It will be the spiritual revolution
and unity of man foretold by a multitude
of religions, NDEs, and psychic revelations.
It will be paradise realized on Earth.

"Love
as much as you can, by all the
means you can, in all the ways
you can, at all the places you
can, during all the times you
can, for as many people as you
can, for as long as you can."
- Kevin Williams, a modification
of John Wesley's quote

Experts
from around the world share
the history and current state
of NDE knowledge. They explore
controversies in the field,
offer stories from their research,
and express their hopes for
the future of investigation
into this fascinating phenomenon.

Dr.
Moody shares eyewitness accounts
of those who have shared the
experiences of the dying: the
"empathic death experiences"
occurring when those gathered
at the bedsides of the dying
have their own visions of the
afterlife.

Written
by a physicist in neuroscience
research who has experienced
multiple NDEs, this book describes
how and why reality, this universe,
is interdependent with consciousness
in order to exist, where the
idea came from, and why.

Almost
1 in 5 NDEs are not peaceful
suggestions of heaven. In a
wide-ranging and far from gloomy
look at "the other NDE," the
author gives the first comprehensive
look at a fascinating but neglected
topic: NDEs involving fear,
emptiness, and even hell.

The
author is an Oxford scholar
who uses evidence from scientific
studies, quantum mechanics,
and consciousness research,
to reveal how consciousness
does not depend on the brain.
Examines ancient and modern
NDEs providing evidence of the
survival of consciousness after
death while debunking the materialistic
arguments raised by skeptics.

Dr.
Sabom's Atlanta NDE Study was
the first comprehensive investigation
of its kind into NDEs and in
his book he reveals the impact
on the people who have experienced
them including supporting evidence
from the Bible.

The
author sheds light on the links
between science and mysticism,
revealing the area of the brain
linking us to the universe,
and is filled with moving case
histories, applying the rigor
of science to the study of the
spiritual, thereby proving the
existence of life after death.

This
essential handbook by leading
NDE experts provides everyone
(especially health professionals)
with the knowledge needed to
understand NDEs and those who
have them by examining children's
NDEs, NDEs from a religious
perspective, the role of light
in NDEs, the assessment and
management of NDEs, and the
future of NDE research.

This
is the author's ground-breaking
study of NDEs within the gay
and lesbian community, providing
numerous NDE examples, and giving
the reader an understanding
of how homosexuals are accepted
in heaven just like heterosexuals.